"Karlen's Karma"

Sebastian Joe's Menu

I can't say I discovered Neal Karlen, a Twin Cities writer well-known for his various books and pieces in The Rolling Stone, NY Times, etc.

But I was one of the first to know about him.

Specifically, way back in 1977, when I was a page editor for the St. Louis Park High newspaper, The Echo, and Neal wrote a hit column called "Oriole Cookies" (the school's mascot was the oriole).

Sample musings: 'what it's like after you die is exactly the same as what it's like before you're born. And for just as long."

I remember people would literally wait for the new issue, just to read Neal.

At any rate, bylines in The Rolling Stone, etc. don't make you famous -- having a drink named after you at Sebastian Joe's does.

Neal's is called "Karlen's Karma."

P.S.: Neal and I were also neighbors. When we missed the bus -- which was often -- we'd have "hitchhiking contests" to see who could get to school first (one would stand alongside Highway 7, the other on Minnetonka Blvd.). If our mothers had known, I'm sure they would have offered to drive.